The massive report measures and reports on overall progress toward protecting the environment and human health.

At noon today, the EPA released its 2008 Report on the Environment, intended to help normal citizens understand trends in the condition of the air, water, and land and related changes in human health and the environment in the United States.

The report measures and reports on overall progress toward protecting the environment and human health. Key measurements included in the massive report ranged from changes in the levels of various air pollutants, to the percentage each year of water systems with violations of EPA health-based standards.

Among its findings, the report noted significant decreases in almost every air pollutant category between 1996 and 2002. In some categories where more recent data was provided, including particulate matter and regional haze, those trends appeared to have leveled off or increased slightly between 2003 and 2006. However, Benzene, CFCs and days when the Air Quality Index reached warning levels all continued to decrease over that period.

According to an agency release, the report stands out from previous years in that is proposed indicators were first reviewed in a public forum to determine if citizens believed the proposed indicators provided the kind of information that was useful, and were supported by technically sound data.

EPA spokesmen said the purpose of the report was to create a reliable set of information that can be used for year-to-year comparisons as well as planning. The agency hopes to use the same indicators over a span of years, similar to the analysis done on the 20 years of data in the Toxics Release Inventory.

View the report by clicking the link below.